Stop Sharing Photos over WhatsApp Now; New Bug Exposes Private Photos

WhatsApp has a new bug. And it could leak your private photos.

If you are one of those who are hooked on to the popular IM WhatsApp all the time, then this could affect you. Apparently, there's a new bug on the loose for the IM that compromises all your private photos that you might have sent over the app. Another Fappening in the making, then?

Brought first to light by Graham Cluley, a UK-based security researcher, the new bug, according to him, appeared with WhatsApp's newly-introduced web interface. The problem was found by 17-year-old security researcher Indrajeet Bhuya, ahead of Cluley.

"17-year-old security researcher Indrajeet Bhuyan has discovered a privacy hole in WhatsApp that could expose your account's profile photo to complete strangers, even if you have set it to be viewable to Contacts Only," Cluley explained the problem via his personal blog.

As of now, users are able to set WhatsApp in a way that it only shares their profile photo with people they have set as contacts. However, this latest bug allows people to get around that and successfully check the profile photos of strangers.

"Sure, it's not the most serious privacy breach that has ever occurred, but that's missing the point. The expectation (of users) is that WhatsApp will only allow their photos to be viewable by those who the user has approved," he added.

Check below as Bhuyan demonstrates the bug in the following video he posted previously on YouTube.

WhatsApp Web, released only recently, allows WhatsApp users to access the same service in a browser. That being said, it is not really a true web service. This means even if a user wants to use WhatsApp on the web, he or she will indeed require a smartphone with WhatsApp installed on it.

"Today, for the first time, millions of you will have the ability to use WhatsApp on your web browser. Our web client is simply an extension of your phone: the web browser mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device -- this means all of your messages still live on your phone," WhatsApp previously stated during the web service's launch.